


Rosalynn Wrights & Rayman 2: The Great Escape

by StarLynnder



Category: Rayman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:14:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 33
Words: 22,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22885354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarLynnder/pseuds/StarLynnder
Summary: Rosalynn Wrights (OC) discovers a 1999 video game in an old bookstore in 2055. Will she grow to love it, or will it just be another old relic to her?
Kudos: 1





	1. Uncovering an "Artifact"

The year is 2055. Rosalynn Wrights, a British fictional writer, Human Rights Activist, and EDM composer-producer, sipped on her coffee. She was off work today, spending her autumnal evening browsing a nearly ANCIENT second-hand bookstore-slash-general-store. It was the place in Leeds, England to go when you're looking for something REALLY old, say, books, old styles of clothing, drawing pads and notebooks, and video games.

Yes, video games. Apparently decades ago, people played video games in the form of CDs and DVDs instead of apps and downloads. The games also apparently had longer plots, more enjoyable stories and gameplay, well-designed characters, can conjure up a colourful range of emotions in the player, and had killer soundtracks, too!

Rosalynn was bored. She finished her organic coffee, recycled the cup by throwing it into a nearby bin, and went further into the bookstore. It had more books than any other item, but it had such a range of items that folks just started calling it a general store instead of a bookstore. Rosalynn loved browsing through stores (especially bookstores!) and collecting old trinkets when they suited her interests. She found herself in the video games section. Pfft. WHAT kind of video game from this shop's era can run on today's oh-so-state-of-the-art high-tech gear anymore. Rosalynn sigh-laughed and left the section.

But right before she could complete a 180° turn towards the exit, she spotted a familiar-looking character on the cover art of a game box, tucked away into a dark corner of a shelf near the cashier. Curious, she approached the shelf and carefully removed the box. And in her hands, there it lay:

Rayman 2: The Great Escape.

Rosalynn checked the box. 1999?! Bloody hell, that IS really OLD. Ancient, if Rosalynn could say so herself. It’s been fifty-six years since its birth or inception and it still managed to survive, ending up in the dark corner of an old, old, old book-general store. Over half a decade old and it's still alive Rosalynn was amazed.

She had to buy it. She didn't know why. She just had to. This could give her a chance to experience how 1990s games were like, she decided.

She was in for a treat. She knew it.

There was just one problem: she had no 1990s system that this game could run on. She decided to bring the game home and ask her boyfriend, Nicholas Maurice Winstor, for help. Nichy was another fellow fictional writer and loved collecting old technologies he dubbed as "retro". Perhaps one of his items could do the trick.

Back home, Rosalynn showed her boo what she had found. The sweet, Korean-descent, feminine-looking man was more than happy to help. He booted up his Acer system and it ran PERFECTLY SMOOTHLY with all the pieces he had put together. Then he went out shopping and told his happy girlfriend to enjoy her game.

"What would I do without you, boo?" Rosalynn thought as she inserted the Compact Disc (CD) into the drive (she had a lot of practice on how to operate old tech systems by playing with them with her boyfriend) and began an adventure into the past……


	2. Introduction to Rayman 2

Chapter 2: Introduction to Rayman 2

Rayman couldn’t believe his eyes. This doesn’t look like the world he lived in, loved and remembered. 

“Rayman…… open your eyes…… look what the Robo-Pirates have done to our world.”

That voice…… Rayman had never heard it before, but it sounded so…… familiar. 

“A world reduced to nothing but pain and suffering. They have broken the heart of the world into a thousand pieces. They have taken everything and reduced our people to slaves. They have taken our light and will never give it back. Nothing can stop them now that they have captured you. We are getting weak. Soon it’ll be too late……”

Who is that talking to him? Rayman is too weak. He could not think…… 

“They have taken the slaves to the Buccaneer, the pirates’ prison ship. Admiral Razorbeard is the leader of the robo-pirates.”

Admiral Razorbead. So he is the big boss of all of them?

“You must escape, Rayman! You are our ONLY hope!”

***

Globox was thrown into the same cell as Rayman. They could hear the desperate cries of the other prisoners on the ship, begging for freedom, to be spared, or for just a drop of water. Globox looked at his best friend. He looked very weak and depressed, not at all like the cheerful, glowing hero he knew.

“Rayman……,” he prodded his friend. “It’s me, Globox. Look, Globox brought gift.”

Rayman looked up at the frog. “GLOBOX!” Light returned to his eyes and he hugged his best friend out of sheer joy. They stayed like that for a few moments.

Globox was almost in tears, reunited with the person he missed most. “How are you doing?”

“Not good,” Rayman gloomily replied. “The pirates have captured me, and I’ve lost all my powers. Globox, I think this may be the end.” Rayman shook his heavy head.

“No. No. Not the end. Globox brought gift. From Ly.”

“Ah? Ly the Fairy!” Rayman exclaimed. How could he forget his powerful fairy friend in a time like this?

“Here.” Globox opened his mouth and pulled out a silver lum. He gave it to Rayman, and Rayman instantly felt his powers coming back to him. “YAHOOOOO!” he cheered as he absorbed the silver lum.

Rayman then looked around for an escape. The entrance of his prison cell was blocked with lasers. But to the side there was a little opening blocked with some bandages. He threw a shot from his fists at the bandages at the path was cleared. He and Globox went into the passage and slid down the slippery pipe and slid out of the pirate ship. They have escaped.

Unfortunately, on their way down, Rayman had gotten separated from Globox. Rayman had fallen into the Woods of Light, while Globox had fallen…… somewhere else.


	3. The Woods of Light

Chapter 3: The Woods of Light

Rayman felt dizzy from hitting his head on the ground after the fall, but he had to find out where his friend was. 

“GLOBOOOOOX!!!” he called out. But he got no reply. Globox must have fallen into some other part of their big, big world. The prison ship was pretty high off the ground after all.

Rayman scratched his throbbing head. He had to find Ly the Fairy, who will give him back all his powers. First, he took a brief shower at the waterfall just near where he had fallen. Ahhh, much better. 

Then he walked over to a strange, square-shaped, sand-coloured stone on the ground. It was a perfect square, seemed to be sparkling, and carved onto it was a picture of…… a greenbottle fly?

He approached the stone, and a buzzing sound filled his ears. 

“Hi, Rayman. Glad to see you’ve escaped!” It was Murfy, the one-volume encyclopedia. And also a greenbottle fly with a big smile wearing green, gold and purple magic robes.

Rayman greeted Murfy back. “I’ll be your guide throughout your adventure,” said the fly. “You see that stone over there? It is a magic stone that can read your thoughts. If you need help, stand on that stone, and I’ll appear in your mind to help you. If my advice sounds confusing, stand next to it and keep F1 pressed down, and I’ll reappear and repeat the instructions.”

“Thank you for the advice!” Rayman bowed. 

“You’re welcome,” and Murfy flew off.

Rayman then jumped on the stone and learned a few new commands. A to Jump, Space to Shoot, and F1 for Murfy to return. 

Rayman then walked on. He saw a pirate cage hanging over a mini waterfall. Someone was trapped in it. He shot a lum at it twice and it breaks. Murfy reappeared. “Congratulations! You just broke a pirate cage! Destroy lots of them, they’re full of energy. And you see that bright sphere over there?” Rayman turned to look. “That’s a yellow lum. Collect them and you can gain access to secret places, and they’ll also teach you all the secrets of the world. Hold J down, you’ll see.” And Murfy flew away.

Rayman collected the lum and went on. He pressed J down and saw that he had broken 1 out of 2 cages and collected 1 out of 5 lums in this level. 

He dropped down the mini waterfall and came upon another magic stone. The stone tells him that he can point the camera with Q, O, End and W.

Rayman found himself at a waterfall. He came across a third magic stone that told him to hang on to ledges whenever possible. He got close to a ledge, jumped up, and found that he could grab onto it and climb up. 

On the ledge was a fourth magic stone that told him how to use his helicopter. He had to jump up once by pressing A once, and then pressing A again to unleash his “hair-licopter”, as he was fond of calling it. To stop his helicopter, he just needed to press A again and he’ll fall down. Rayman used his helicopter to jump from one ledge to another one far away, far enough that one single jump could not cover it. 

On that ledge, Rayman bumped into some of Globox’s 600-plus children. The little frogs cried out eagerly for their daddy. Rayman awkwardly explained that they got separated and the children burst out crying at the idea of not being able to reunite with their father anytime soon.

“Hey!” Rayman responded in shock to their tears. He tried to comfort them. “I’ll bring your daddy back, I promise. But first, I must find Ly. Do you know where she is? Hey!”

The children did not stop crying. They pointed at a way off the ledge. “The mean old pirates took Ly that way,” they wailed. And off Rayman went to rescue another close friend of his.

A little way off he came across his fifth magic stone. Murfy whispered, “You see those two big columns of stone up there?” Rayman looked. “You can climb up them, y’know. Stand in between them, press A to jump, and press A again to grab on to the walls. Repeat this action until you reach the top.”

Rayman did just that and climbed up about 20 feet off the ground. The first thing he saw on top was his second pirate cage. He broke it and four Teensies came out.

The Teensies are blue-grey coloured, small little creatures with black beady eyes and elongated noses. They wear the same purple, green and gold robes as Murfy. One of them wore a tall gold crown. He must be the king of the Teensies.

“Congratulations. You have freed us. I am the King of the Teensies and I can’t thank you enough.”

A second Teensie snuck up behind the “king” and pulled his crown off his head. “Don’t listen to him. I’M the King of the Teensies,” the second one said and put the crown on his own head.

“No, me!” said the third one who did the same thing.

“Me!” said the fourth one who grabbed the crown, too.

“Me.”

“Me.”

“Me.”

“No, me.”

“STOP!” Rayman suddenly yelled. “I need to find Ly. Do you know where she is?”

That was when all the Teensies looked down and put their hands behind their back and did not reply. The fourth Teensie took off the crown and put it back onto the second Teensie’s head.

“Uh, this is not easy to say, but… the pirates have taken Ly to the Fairy Glade, and they have locked her in one of their strongholds. To get there, you must pass through the Hall of Doors.”

“The Hall of Doors?” Rayman repeated. 

“The Hall of Doors is a passage that connects many magical places together. It holds portals to other worlds,” the Teensie explained. “The passage requires 5 lums to enter, and I see you’ve collected enough to get there.” Rayman nodded.

The Teensie went over to a little dark pool of stars and clapped his hands. A portal looking like a whirlpool and appeared into the dark pool. “Prepare yourself for a magical journey!” the Teensie exclaimed.

Rayman took a few steps back, made a running start and jumped into the pool. He was long prepared. He had to find his friend!

***

Rosalynn was enjoying this game so far. She knew she had made a good discovery in that bookshop when she had seen it. Decent gameplay, cute and cool characters and an engaging soundtrack. It was EVERYTHING she loved in a classic video game. The spunky writer thanked her boyfriend again for helping her load this thing. She knew now that she was going to have a blast with Rayman.


	4. The Fairy Glade

Chapter 4A: The Fairy Glade

In the Hall of Doors, Rayman centered his lum onto the next level and jumped in.

He reappeared in some sort of marshy area. With water all over and trees and vines to climb on. Rayman spotted a big purple mushroom in the center of some grass and hopped onto it. It made a loud “SPROING” sound like he was jumping on spring. He found that he could grab the vines on the underside of the branch above the mushroom. But he let go and decided to explore the water around the mushroom first. 

He dived in. It was nice and cool after all that running and climbing. Luckily he knew how to swim and manoeuvre himself underwater. He swam around the mushroom until he came across a small tunnel going into an underwater cave. He held his breath and dived in. 

Some blue lums floated in front of him. Swimming towards them, he realised they were air and sucked them in. He found himself in a dead-end underwater chamber with plenty of blue lums reappearing where he last took them. A pirate cage was in the dhamber. Breaking it open, Rayman was relieved to see no Teensies, who cannot breathe underwater, trapped inside.

He swam out of the cave and back out to the surface. Wet but happy that he did not drown, he bounced on the mushroom again and began climbing the vines towards a ledge. He then came across a very murky-looking pond with piranhas jumping out of it. “Swimming not advised,” said the sign by the pond. 

He hopped onto the lily pads and reached the other side. A magic stone advised him to pick up red lums when he needed energy. He went on his way until he saw a large switch. He shot at it and a gate near the purple mushroom opened. 

Before he entered the gate, he heard a small call for help. He followed the sound until he came upon another pirate cage on the high end of the branch, the one with the vines on its underside above the mushroom. He broke the cage and jumped down to the ledge with the gate. The young Globoxes bouncing by the gate cheered him on and urged him to bring their daddy back home. Rayman then went on and had his progress saved by a green lum. A nearby magic stone told him to grab then green lums. When he dies, he’ll reappear where he last took one.

Rayman slid down the waterfall and came across another piranha pond. A giant machine was spilling out toxic waste into the pond — probably the very reason why the pond is so dangerous and the piranhas so aggressive in the first place. Rayman climbed up onto the machine and jumped onto a platform floating in the pond. It took him towards the red and yellow lums underneath the bridge he crossed. Then he climbed back up the machine and continue to the very top. Then he jumped the large hole above.

He landed in a shaded area of the Fairy Glade. He climbed up the vines of the big tree trunk in the middle and avoided the creepy slithering creatures below. At the top of the tree was another ledge. He continued on his journey and slid down another waterfall and came upon — ugh — another piranha pond.

He found a pirate cage that he could not smash yet but silently promised it that he would break it somehow. Rayman began climbing the vines on the sides of the pond. He was careful not to get bitten by the piranha jumping out of it and biting at one point of the vine. He went on and encountered a pirate ship, with a Robo-Pirate standing watch on the balcony.

The Robo-Pirate was on the lookout for him. At the sight of him, it began picking up some flaming barrels and throwing them at Rayman. Seeing a small grassy cave in the corner, Rayman ran to it for cover. He then collected all the lums there, shot at another piranha and broke its teeth, and broke another pirate cage. 

Back in front of the pirate ship, Rayman noticed a hole in the ground covered in bandages. He had an idea. He stood on top of the hole and waited for the pirate to throw a barrel at him. When the barrel nearly reached him, he jumped out of the way, and hello, hole!

Rayman jumped down the hole and another green lum saved his progress. He came across another magic stone. It advised him to use his helicopter and his shadow to jump onto the boxes and cross the green, gooey, toxic swamp. He did that and came across another magic stone and some webs extending upwards. Rayman learned that he could climb the web as the stone told him. He climbed up and avoided the barrels falling towards him. He then saw a door covered in bandages at the top and cleared it by shooting at it, just like in the prison cell on board the pirate ship. Rayman decided that these Robo-Pirates are very bad at keeping their doors sealed tight. 

Rayman found himself inside the pirate ship. The way to his right was blocked with lasers, like his prison cell on the Buccaneer (ugh). He heard some soft snoring. At a floor above him, he saw Robo-Pirate guard sleeping peacefully next to a switch. Robo-Pirates snore? Okay. 

Rayman went the way left and found himself in a grassy clearing. He walked into a green lum and saw another magic stone. Murfy came flying in. “Hello, Rayman. There are many pirates in the area. There’s a good chance you’ll have to learn how to fight one! When in combat, keep Control pressed down to keep your enemy targeted. It’ll make it easier to avoid his shots.”

“Thanks for the tip!” Rayman bowed, and waved the greenbottle goodbye.

Sure enough a purple pirate appeared. Rayman remembered Murfy’s advice and faced his enemy. As the pirate shot at him, Rayman moved side to side, dodging his bullets, and shooting his own until the pirate ran out of energy. The pirate exploded and some red lums flew towards Rayman. He had won! 

To the left of the clearing, there was a blocked door that Rayman could not shoot to enter. Those bandages must be reinforced, thought Rayman. He went on the way ahead of him and saw another sleeping pirate in a new room. Stealthily, he shot at this pirate and woke him up. He defeated this one as well and it crashed. Yum, red lums.

In this new room Rayman picked up a powdered keg — a barrel full of explosive stuff — next to another magic stone and walked out with it. He threw the keg at the bandaged door and cleared the way. In there, he broke pirate cage number 6 and collected the yellow lums in it.

He went back into the room where he defeated the sleeping pirate and climbed up the bars on the wall and and ropes across the ceiling. He dropped into a room with a layer of netting over green slimy water and found that he could bounce on the netting. Avoiding the moving laser, he hit the switch in the room, grabbed onto a ledge above it, and went on his way.

He was a floor above ground in the pirate ship. He fought the sleeping pirate next to the switch, destroyed him, and hit the switch, the lasers disappeared from the way below and he was clear to go.

A little way over he found Ly the Fairy trapped in a pirate stronghold. She looked calm in a meditating pose even when she’s enclosed in a small space. “Save me, Rayman!” she cried. “Find the machine and break it!” Rayman went into a little hole and was confronted with a primitive-looking machine with three hit-areas or targets all covered in bandages. A powdered keg and a keg dispenser laid nearby. Rayman took one heavy keg and began walking towards the machine. A big, black, round bomb with the pirate symbol on it approached him.Rayman tossed the keg up to the air, shot the bomb before it hit him, caught the keg again, and made his way forwards. He repeated this for as many bombs that approached him and threw his keg at the first hit-point on the machine.

Then he repeated this two more times and broke the machine. The pirate stronghold went off and Ly was free!

“Rayman, at last! I was so afraid Globox had failed.” Luckily he didn’t.

Ly was too weak to give Rayman all of his powers back. Combining energy has become very difficult since the pirates have broken the heart or the primordial core of the world into a thousand little fragments. She told Rayman that there was a way to defeat the pirates by awakening Polokus, the spirit of the world. He has immense power and has been sleeping for many years. To awaken him, Rayman must find and unite the Four Masks of Polokus which are hidden in many secret places in the world. Before leaving, she gave Rayman a silver lum which came from all the energy she had managed to gather. The silver lum gave him the ability to swing from purple lums. “Good luck, Rayman!” Ly wished him as she disappeared magically from the stronghold.

Rayman took a moment to process this new knowledge. Then he put his new ability into action. He swung from a purple lum floating in the air and landed on the other side. He climbed up two metal pipes and jumped down a hole.

He found himself down a toxic waste disposal. Yuck! He hated that smell. Gently, he helicoptered downwards and kept away from the streams of black liquid coming out from metal pipes. On a large pipe halfway down, Rayman defeated another sleeping pirate and broke his seventh cage. Rayman noticed his shots were slightly stronger now thanks to Ly’s second silver lum. Oh, she and her fairy friends, after Polokus, are definitely the next most powerful beings on this planet.

Rayman helicoptered all the way down and welcomed a green lum saving his progress. He came to another clearing in the forest with air currents on the ground and in the air. He saw another magic stone in the ground. The stone told him to activate his helicopter in the currents and he’ll be able to fly upwards. He did that and passed through at least 10 air currents, collecting all the yellow lums along the way, and reached the top. There, he broke his eighth pirate cage and a Teensie wearing a large flower crown came out. He and the Teensie did a little dance and a portal appeared, and Rayman was sucked back into the Hall of Doors.

Rayman then noted that he did not collect all the lums of this level and there was still, he remembered, one cage left to be broken. As a result, access to the bonus level was denied. Rayman promised the cage he will come back for it, and he will, because a promise is a promise in his world.


	5. The Marshes of Awakening

Rayman appeared in a swampy area in the next level. A large “no swimming” sign was the first thing he saw. He also saw some tiny but vicious piranhas jumping out of the green swampy water in front of him.

He jumped onto some lily pads and collected the red and yellow lums on it. Then he saw a tree branch and hopped onto it. He climbed up the tree branch and shot some annoying jumping piranhas and zombie chickens out of the way.

It was a creepy place, even with those pretty lily pads. Rayman came across a sign that said “Warning! This is unknown territory. Tourism may be hazardous.” He also saw a few very big eyeballs bouncing up and down and staring down at him. He shot them out of the way, too.

Has he walked further up the branch, a voice called out to him. “You!” it bellowed. “You shall not pass.” It was a guardian of some sort. He wore a tall purple hat with yellow stars on it, carried a staff shaped like a skull, and had only one eye. “Only those who know the name of this place may enter. Come back when you know the name.” And he shooed Rayman away.

Rayman walked back down the branch and hopped onto the lily pads once more. He climbed onto a nearby netting and jumped onto a narrow wooden bridge on the other side. A green lum saved his progress. He shot the large pirate cage in front of him and another friend of his, Ssssam the Snake, was free!

“Ahhhh. It feels good to stretch out again,” Ssssam exclaimed. “Ssssensational! How can I ever thank you.”

“Forget it, Ssssam,” Rayman replied. “Tell me, do you know where I can find the Four Masks of Polokus?”

“Ssssorry, Rayman. But I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Rayman sighed. “But I DID see Globox get captured by two pirates. They took him somewhere out beyond the marshes. I can get help get you there if you like.” Rayman nodded vigorously. “You can grab onto my scarf by shooting at it, and I’ll take you for a swamp-skiing ride. Press A to jump and Control to speed up. C’mon, let’s go!” Ssssam gestured with his tail.

The ride was fast and fun but full of obstacles, like a swampy obstacle course. Rayman had to jump out of the way, while hanging onto Ssssam’s scarf, many times to dodge stones, wooden poles, swinging axes, biting piranhas, more zombie chickens (brrrrr), some platforms, switches he must hit, large bombs and pirates shooting from small boats. On the way, Rayman collected all 50 lums and managed to smash three pirate cages. One of them was his 10th cage, and Rayman felt his energy bar grow to a longer maximum.

At the end of the ride, Rayman landed on some ground where a boat had overturned. He let go of Ssssam’s scarf and the snake called out to him.

“So long… come and see me again if you can.” A tear fell out of Ssssam’s eye as he waved with his tail. He was telling his friend goodbye.

“I promise I will.” A promise is a promise in Rayman’s world.

“I will miss you, my friend.” And Ssssam slithered back down into the swamp.

“Me, too.” Rayman faced forward. “No time to lose!”

Rayman broke the last pirate cage of the level in front of him and a Teensie fell out. Together, they performed their dance ritual again and a portal appeared. And Rayman returned to the Hall of Doors.


	6. Meanwhile...... (1)

Meanwhile……

The Buccaneer. The Pirate Ship. Slaves now on board: 22,730

Admiral Razorbeard sits on his throne — his captain seat. He hears a clunk outside his private cabin. His right-hand robot was approaching, and he had been tripped by one of the two pirate guards standing outside his cabin. “You’ll pay for that, soldier!” The assistant roared at the guard.

“Who dares disturb me?!” Razorbeard roared louder. He turned to face the offending robot.

The right-hand robot stood in the middle of the cabin. “Your… your horribleness. Rayman has escaped and has made it to the swamp……”

Razorbeard grew furious. He slammed a metal fist on the armrest of his chair. “You incompetent imbecile! AAAAAAAARGH!!!” he yelled at his right-hand robot, who only bowed his tin head in shame. “Send for the warship and destroy him!” he ordered. “He mustn’t get the Four Masks of Polokus!”

As the right-hand robot left the cabin, the Admiral gobbled down one fragment of the Heart of Rayman’s world — a yellow lum — for the sheer satisfaction of it. Warships were seen exiting the monumental pirate ship from the bottom, off in pursuit of Rayman to stop him in his tracks……


	7. The Walk of Life

Rayman appeared in another swampy area via the Hall of Doors. There was a small round-ish platform ahead of him that will take him down the swamp. But to his left, he saw a few wooden poles surrounding a square-shaped stone. The wooden poles all had Ly’s face on them. Another portal, maybe? He decided to explore where it will take him first.

Standing on the stone inside the circle of poles, he heard Ly’s voice. “Here you can win life force and power,” she said. “You have enough lums to go there. Come along!” Then a portal appeared and Rayman jumped into it.

Rayman then found himself up against Ly in a timed race. He loved timed races! The countdown adds more of a challenge to get to the finish line quickly before your opponent. “Three, two, one……” and he was off!

It was a fun thing in the middle of his difficult quest, Rayman decided. He had to jump on spider webs laid out as flat as the ground, climb creeping vines attached to some forest walls, walk across rickety wooden bridges that will fall through any second, and pass time points that will add 25 seconds each round to his remaining time left to complete the race. He collected all 50 lums along the way, and made it through this level in record time: 1 minute, 59.41 seconds.

Even if he did not beat Ly to the finish line, she was there, ready and waiting with a reward. “Well done, Rayman. That was very fast. You make a good hero. To increase your chances, here’s some more energy.” 

Rayman could feel his maximum energy levels rise as Ly worked her magic on him. Then, another magical creature appeared: a Teensie. Togethr, Rayman and the Teensie did a little dance and a portal appeared. They both jumped into it and reappeared back i to the Hall of Doors as Ly waved goodbye.

Rayman now noted that The Walk of Life is now connected to The Bayou in the Hall of Doors. So it’s back to The Bayou, it is!


	8. The Bayou

Rayman entered the Bayou portal again, and found himself in the same swampy area as previously. To his left was the portal to the Walk of Life. And forward was the level. He jumped onto the hexagonal platform and the platform began floating down the swamp. The warship ahead of him started shooting some bombs at him. He shot back at the bombs before they touched him and exploded. Then he jumped onto a branch and broke open cage number 14.

Onward, he climbed up a ladder and hit a switch and a bridge came down. Rayman then had to cross these bridges. The warship would shoot bombs at these rickety bridge sections and make them shake until they collapse into the swamp. Rayman had to jump onto the next section of the bridge before the first section came down. And then jump onto the next, and the next, and the next section, as the bombs touch them, and also make sure those bombs do not touch him at the same time. It was the trickiest bit of the level. What exercise one could have in a swamp!

Then Rayman broke another cage, defeated another pirate and shouted a triumphant “YEAH!” into the air. Then he swung from a purple lum and hopped onto another hexagonal platform and it floated downstream. Some zombie chickens appeared and tried to charge at him from the swamp waters. Rayman shot at them as they got near. Then he jumped onto a branch and onto a bridge and hit the cage underneath the branch, collecting the lums trapped in it.

The warship was still ahead of him. More bombs hit the bridge he was walking on. Ugh! After that bridge, he swung from another purple lum and broke the cage in a cave to the left of another bridge. Then he swung back to the other bridge and broke another cage hidden underneath it.

Rayman entered deeper into the swamp, he came across more piranha pools. He shot at one in his way, broke its teeth, and carried on. He confronted another pirate that popped out from the ground and defeated it. He crossed the swamp further, avoiding the barrels that row sideways at him, and found a hidden switch by the side of a metal bridge. He hit it and entered the “mouth” of a scary-looking tree with flames in its “eyes”.

A robo-gorilla in a blue and white striped shirt stood in his way. It wouldn’t let Rayman pass and kept on chasing him. Rayman couldn’t run around it or jump over its head. How annoying! Rayman had an idea. He led the gorilla out to the “mouth” of the tree and jumped out, then he helicoptered back in to safety just as he jumped out. The gorilla had followed him but could not helicopter back in. So it fell down from the tree and Rayman heard a “CRASH” and a “BOOM!” as the gorilla fell down and exploded.

Now Rayman can continue on his way. He hit a switch in the wall and ahead of him, some lasers retracted from a doorway, past some swinging axes. Rayman dodged the axes and went through the doorway just in time before the lasers came back on again. He then jumped over the barrels coming from behind him and broke two Teensie cages, the last ones of the level. The last cage was his 20th cage so Rayman’s energy bar extended again.

He followed the Teensie with the flower crown up to the top of a structure (after bouncing on some pirate nettings), did the happy little dance with him and got sucked into a portal back into the Hall of Doors.


	9. The Sanctuary of Water and Ice

Rayman entered a portal and landed onto a gold platform. There, a little Teensie with a gold crown greeted him. 

“Welcome back, Rayman!”

“Ah? So you’re the king?” Rayman asked, remembering the Teensies’ fight over the crown earlier. “Have you guys sorted it out?” 

“Uh, no. But we’re more organised now,” the Teensie replied and gestured behind him. Rayman looked to see three more Teensies standing neatly in a line behind the first Teensie. 

“You are in the Council Chamber of the Teensies,” said the first Teensie. And he passed the crown to the second one in line and took his place at the very back of the line. 

“From here you can go to many worlds and new places.” The second Teensie passed the crowd to the third Teensie and went to the back of the line.

“The trip will take a lot of energy, but we see you have collected enough lums to go there.” And the third Teensie passed the crown to the fourth Teensie and stood at the back, too.

They certainly ARE more organised in their royal duties now, Rayman thought.

“Prepare yourself for a new journey!” the fourth Teensie announced. All the Teensies gestured to a very big door behind them. Rayman approached the door and hesitated to enter. He looked back and the Teensies urged him on. “Go in! Go in!” So he pushed the door open and prepared to enter where it’ll take him…… 

Rayman appeared on a beach. The sand was grainy but warm. He looked behind him and saw a cage at the harbour. He smashed it and went on his way, avoiding the annoying little crab clipping and scrambling across the sand.

He heard a drilling sound. A Robo-Pirate was ahead, drilling through different spots on the way up a cliff and shooting at Rayman. Rayman avoided all the spots it was drilling through and shot back at it and defeated it. Then he climbed up the cliff and jumped into a pool of water. He swam underwater, inhaling the blue lums and collecting the big and small yellow ones, and emerged into a small pool area with a cage in the open air. He smashed it and swam back to the first pool. 

On land, he then climbed a rope ladder. He found himself on another beach with a large temple door ahead, two small pyramids of different colours on the ground and two locked doors on either side. Next to one of the doors was a pirate sign that read “Free dumping for anyone who can figure out how to open the door”. 

Rayman shot at the door. It did not budge. He looked around. Next to the other door he saw a powdered keg and a keg dispenser. That’s it! He picked up, carried, and threw the keg at the first door and it broke open. He went in and saw an orange sphere on the ground. 

Murfy flew in. “Hey, Rayman! Congratulations on figuring out how to open the door. This here is a sphere. To pick it up, stand next to it. Press A to toss it into the air, and press Space to toss it in front of you. Put the sphere onto the base of the same colour to unlock a door or pathway.” And Murfy flew out.

Rayman placed the orange sphere onto the orange pyramid (the base) outside. He then destroyed the second door with the second keg, then went in and took out the second blue sphere and placed it onto the blue base on the beach. The temple doors part and Rayman could now enter the Sanctuary. He collected some yellow lums and went in deeper.

Rayman found himself at the top of a series of slippery surfaces. Murfy flew in again. “You see these slopes, Rayman? They’re very slippery. You can slide on them. You will lose control if you turn sideways. Press Up to speed up and Down to slow down. You cannot use your helicopter while you are sliding. Bye-bye!” And he flew off.

So Rayman slided. It was slippery and he went down fast. “Wheeeeeeee!” Yeah, it was fun. For a moment he forgot the cold he could feel inside this (duh) ice temple. He jumped and landed from slippery platform to slippery platform. He eventually reached the end of the slides and came face-to-face with Axel, the guardian of the Sanctuary of Water and Ice. Axel shot at Rayman with icicles. Rayman heard Ly the Fairy’s voice telling him what to do: follow the purple lums and shoot the stalactite. 

Rayman swung on purple lum by purple lum, avoided the icicles, and shot the giant stalactite above Axel’s head. The giant ice block fell onto top of Axel and he was defeated. “Yeah!”, Rayman cheered and went on to collect the red lums he was owed.

He then went behind a curtain of waterfalls and saw a large stone structure on a green little hill ahead of him. As he approached the stone structure, the white ring around his chest glowed. The structure opened and out came the First Mask of Polokus. It was greenish in colour and had a big smile on it. He had found the first one!

Rayman climbed onto the stone structure, took the first mask and held it up high. In a few moments he disappeared and reappeared with the mask in front of Polokus, the spirit of the world himself. Rayman had never seen him in the flesh before. Polokus was a being with a tall purple hat, blue trousers, keyhole-looking, eyes and very long arms. He had a stubby, pudgy-looking body and his skin was a pale greenish-beige. He greeted Rayman with an omniscient, faraway voice.

The same faraway voice that Rayman had heard at the start of his adventure, telling him about what the pirates have done to this world.

“Ah, Rayman. Glad to finally meet you. I see you have found the first of my four masks. For now, I am far away and can only speak in dreams. Find the three more masks and I will awaken. And I will help you fight the pirates.” Polokus took the mask from Rayman and placed in one of the faces of the stone structure he was sitting on. Then with his long, longhands, he created a portal and made Rayman disappear through it. His last words still echoed through the hero’s mind: “Be brave! Our lives depend on your journey.”

***

Alright! The first mask has been found. Just three more to go. Rosalynn had totally put her writing projects on hold just to play this game. Someday she will write a novel or novella about this game, maybe. Depends on her mood……


	10. The Menhir Hills

Rayman sood in a grassy area. A few menhirs stood tall near him. Murfy flew in with a word of warning. “Careful! This place is guarded by a walking shell. I heard that it’s possible to tame it.”

Rayman observed the shell up ahead. It was yellow, looked like a pencil, and had the Robo-Pirates symbol on it. Did the pirates invented it? Who knows.

Rayman thanked Murfy and the greenbottle flew away. Before alerted the shell with his presence, Rayman decided to explore the grassy area around him. He found a switch behind a menhir and hit it. Then he jumped down the hole in the ground in between three menhirs. He smashed cage number 23 and climbed some webs out of the hole. Then he went a little closer towards the shell. 

He could not go any closer because the ground ahead was covered in thorns. The next thing he knew, the shell was running towards him across the thorns. Apparently shells can walk and run on thorns while he can’t. Okay. Maybe riding the shell can help him cross uncrossable grounds like this…… 

Rayman let the shell chase him until it was tired. It doesn’t take long to tire a shell out, Rayman found. He then hopped on his back and it began neighing like a horse. Then Rayman could steer the shell in any direction he wanted. 

Once they crossed the thorny area, Rayman hopped off the shell and let it hit a wall and explode. The door it had hit burst open and revealed a pirate cage inside. Murfy flew in again. “Congratulations. You’ve figured out how to tame a shell by riding on its back. Once on a shell, press Space to get off and A to go faster. You cannot get off a shell, though, if it’s going too fast. Good luck!” And Murfy flew away again.

Rayman figured it would be easier to have the tiny Murfy carry the parts of his disconnected, limbless body, one by one, over the thorns and to safety on the other side. But he wasn’t sure if Murfy was of that mind or strength. Oh, well. Taming and riding shells may be a handy skill in his quest. So Rayman was glad to have learned something new.

Rayman broke the cage behind the busted door and went to read the sign near another door: “Military Academy. Please respect the need for total silence for the cadets’ concentration.” The pirates are now building training academies across the planet? These darn invaders. Rayman had to find the masks and get rid of these space infestors, fast.

Rayman entered the academy quietly and fought off two cadets sleeping on the training job, at the same time. He was getting the hand of this whole combat thing and was happy to find that all the robots he had encountered so far were pretty easy to defeat. He entered an adjacent room and broke another cage. Then he went back to the main room and jumped down a hole.

He came to a clearing outside the academy. Rayman collected a lum behind the tree and bounced on a purple mushroom in front of it. *Sproing!* He missed that sound. He had not bounced on purple mushrooms since the Fairy Glade. He landed on a branch with another mushroom, and he bounced on it again. He grabbed a purple lum and swung from it and landed on a pirate platform. There, he smashed a cage on the opposite structure and helicoptered back down to the ground. 

Then he tamed and rode another shell across more thorny ground and up the hill. He avoided the vines growing out of the ground and the obstacles on the bridge over water. He rode and jumped off the shell when he reached another clearing. This time, it had a sign that said “Elite Troop Training Centre. Danger!”

Rayman saw that his shell had smashed into a door leading up into another pirate academy. Then he saw another small, square way with a powdered keg next to it. He grabbed the keg, just in case, and went into that square way. A large chasm was in between him and a cage hanging from the ceiling. Luckily there was a torch lighting up the area. Rayman lit his keg with the torch and flew over the chasm like a jet-packed rocket. On the other side, there was another keg dispenser. He picked up a keg and threw it upwards at the cage and broke it. Then hit let another keg with another torch on the wall and flew back across the chasm, and went on his merry way.

Rayman fought another sleeping cadet in front of a big, grey door and destroyed him. He hit a switch next to the door and it opened. He went in and saw piles and piles of robot parts smashed, crushed and chewed up all around him. He looked for the source of this destruction and found it. It was Clark, his super-strong, big-chinned friend. He had smashed, crushed, and chewed up every unfortunate robot that came his way. Now his friend didn’t appear to look so healthy or cheerful. 

“Uh…… hey buddy,” Clark greeted Rayman weakly. “Ya wanna arm wrestle?”

“Hey, you don’t look so good buddy,” Rayman said, concerned. “What’s wrong?”

“Huh…… I must have swallowed something bad for me,” Clark explained. “To feel better, I need Life Potion. It’s hidden near the entrance of the Marshes of Awakening, in a place called The Cave of Bad Dreams.” Clark looked at Rayman. “Don’t forget that name or the guard won’t let you pass.” 

“The Cave of Bad Dreams,” Rayman repeated. “I won’t forget. Hang in there, Clark. I’ll get you that Life Potion.”

“Th-thanks, little buddy,” Clark mumbled as Rayman went to help his big buddy feel better.


	11. Return to the Marshes of Awakening

Back at the swampy marshes, Rayman went up to that creepy place on top of the tree branch again. The guard, who can read his mind, let him pass, as Rayman now knew the name of the place. Access to the cave was granted.

But the guard warned him. He has hidden a treasure inside the cave. If Rayman beat him to it, it’s all his. It was the life potion, Rayman assumed. The guard gave Rayman a headstart but warned him to not waste any time. If Rayman is caught, no mercy will be shown……


	12. The Cave of Bad Dreams

This place was…… yikes. Rayman understood why the pirates would put a warning sign outside of it. It was ugly and inhospitable, practically Nightmare Cave, as its name suggested. It was “Nightmare” everywhere Rayman looked, all creepy, blue and cold. NOT a place for a nice, peaceful nap.

Cold bones lined the walls. Skulls with empty eye sockets formed sections of a bridge to hop across. The atmosphere was eerie and just…... cold. And oh, don’t get started on the water or the ground. It looked like it was made of hundreds or thousands of thorny tentacles lying and squirming (ew!) on top of each other and nothing else. Rayman did NOT want to fall into those thorns.

The creepy theremin and harp music playing in the background did not help either. Rayman closed his eyes and ears but it only intensified his fear. Fear is NOT a good thing to allow to take over one when one is trying to save the world. He decided he will NOT play that as a lullaby tune before a new adventure, or before he nods off to sleep each night. 

Rayman wondered what would happen if someone were to accidentally fall asleep in this cave. Will the guardian catch them, and what will he do to them? Will he put a spell on them so that they never ever wake up again and have a nightmare for all eternity? Will they live their nightmares in here? Oh, dear. Better keep moving. He would NOT want that to happen to him. He began to wonder if this cave was the result of the guardian’s, other inhabitants or maybe even Polokus’s nightmares. But he stopped himself before he let those creepy thoughts disturb him.

Rayman didn’t remember much from this part of his adventure, but he recalled fighting mini versions of the guard (minus the staff and the tall purple hat) that spat fire at him. When defeated, one of them turned into an orange sphere which Rayman put onto an orange base and it revealed a pathway that Rayman can drop into. Then he remembered putting another blue and another orange sphere onto their respective bases and opening another doorway that looked like a mouth. It was a trip he’s honestly rather forget — like a really, really bad dream he’d rather just wake up and move on from.

But then he remembered the freakiest part of it all: being chased by the guardian who was ready to chomp on him and then having to fight him. The guardian would make those empty skulls appear in thin air and float towards where Rayman was standing, then Rayman would have to hit them to stop them in their tracks and jump on them and repeat with more skulls coming in to form a bridge and cross the thorny chasm below.

But at least, Rayman found the treasure. It was a large room in the cave with mountain piles of gold and very big diamonds lying everywhere. The guardian appeared from behind Rayman and admitted his defeat, and told Rayman to take whatever he wanted. The treasure wasn’t the life potion. Rayman was disappointed. And Rayman didn’t come for this treasure. So he dropped the gold he had picked up and woke up.

As Rayman shook his head to clear it, he realised he had been hypnotised by the guardian all along to enter the cave. That’s why the whole thing felt fuzzy. Like a dream and a place his mind went through while his body lay asleep here, in the Marshes of Awakening. Like none of it was real but very real at the same time.

But the container of the Elixir of Life in his hands — the guardian had given it to him as a reward for making the right decision and NOT accepting the treasure — was proof that it was not a dream and it was real. Now, he could bring the elixir to Clark and cure him.


	13. Back to the Menhir Hills

Rayman found his friend and gave him the potion. In just two sips Clark instantly felt better and was ready to go smash some more robots. 

“Cool. But put me down first, okay?” Rayman advised his overjoyed gentle-giant friend who had picked him up.

And together, they smashed their way out of the pirate ship. Rayman broke his 28th pirate cage. Once outside, he smashed his 29th and 30th cage and felt his energy bar extend again. He then rode his third shell of the level up a cliff and collected all the remaining lums in the level .

As they neared the edge of the cliff, Rayman figured he had found a new hobby: riding shells! They look like pencil and neigh like horses and also explode like bombs but they can make good friends when you’re trying to get from place to place. Rayman steered his new friend to jump off the cliff, into a portal below, and ended the level.


	14. The Canopy

In the next level, Rayman saw webs. Lots, and lots of webs. He wondered who or what made them. A spider, maybe? It had to be a VERY big spider because— THUD! Rayman turned around.

“OH MY LUMS, RUNNNNN!!!”

Rayman began climbing the huge webs to get away from that eight-eyed thing. It was trailing him and catching up fast, being so used to climbing and heck, making webs. Rayman collected all the lums and shot at the spider whenever he could. He took advantage of the fact that the spider would pause for a bit before trying to hit him, giving Rayman more time to move a few more inches ahead, away from the spider. It was fast but he was faster. In the end he managed to defeat the spider, collect all the lums on the webs, and destroy his 31st and 32nd cage. 

Rayman later found himself in the forest canopy. The gate to his right was blocked by lasers. Built by the pirates again, one could guess. Slowly, he balanced himself on the plank in front of him and crossed it. A pirate jumped out of nowhere in front of him and began shooting at him. Rayman was crossing a plank. He could not move side to side to dodge the pirate’s fire or he’ll fall off. He could only jump and shoot back. He did it, and he won. He collected the red lums and read the sign ahead of him: “Imprisoned here is Public Enemy No.2. His Raindance led to the rusting of several brave Robo-Pirate comrades.”

He looked behind him and there was Globox’s prison — where the pirates had captured him when he and Rayman were separated and had kept him all this time. Oh, Globox. His raindance couldn’t get him out of jail now, could it?

Rayman shot the switch next to his cell and it opened. Globox was free! “Yeah! Rayman is the greatest!” he cheered, doing his hippity-hop frog-dance thing. Rayman went back up to the gate with the lasers and let Globox do his thing. Globox jumped down to the gate and did a little dance while calling for the rain. Some clouds began to form above the gate and some rain fell from it. The gate began to short circuit and exploded. The path was clear.

Rayman, with Globox following behind, fell down a hole and a green lum saved his progress. A little plant was in front of them, waiting for more rain to grow a little bigger. Globox did his thing as well. Rayman decided his best friend will be very useful in this level. The plant grew and a large pink flower came floating down to it. Rayman hopped onto ot and crossed the abyss to another platform in the canopy. He then hit a long tree branch at the spot marked with an ‘X’ and the tree fell over, forming a bridge that Globox could cross as well.

Up ahead, Globox raindanced a forest fire away. The duo continued on their way until a Robo-Pirate ambushed them from the front. “AAAAAAH!” Globox screamed and went to hide. Rayman, the braver one, defeated the pirate and went to comfort his best friend, still shivering in fright.

“What’s the matter, Globox? Are you scared?”

“No, no! Globox not scared,” he denied, even though it was obvious.

“There’s no shame in being scared,” Rayman said. “The warship and the pirates are very dangerous. Oh, if only I had more of my powers back……”

At that point, Globox lightened up. “Powers? Globox forget.” He opened his mouth and pulled out a silver lum. It was from Ly, who had gathered enough energy to give Rayman more of his abilities back. The lum floated towards Rayman and he absorbed it. More power, at last! “Yippee! Yeah!” he shouted.

“Ly gave me lum to make your fist stronger,” Globox explained. “Ly said: press and hold down space to make your shot stronger.”

Rayman repeated what Globox said and remembered it. Then they continued on their way.

A warship approached the two heroes from the sky. Again, Globox ran and hid in a small hole in a tree trunk. The warship began dropping some bombs onto Rayman standing in the open air. Thankfully they all missed as Rayman was a good bomb-dodger. The warship then crashed into a tree, seemingly on purpose, and a pirate jumped out. He jumped from platform to platform on the tree as he started shooting at Rayman. Rayman decided to put his new power to the test. Pressing Control to face the pirate while dodging his bullets, he held space down and the shot in his ends grew bigger and brighter until it started crackling with electricity. He waited until the robot landed upon a platform in the tree and stopped moving and he threw the shot at it. He repeated this until the robot exploded and rewarded Rayman with red lums. Then Rayman went back to tell Globox that the coast is clear.

Globox calmed down when his friend approached him. He then followed his best friend to another laser gate and raindanced it to its destruction. Past the gate, Rayman then fought off another pirate using his new power. And he was getting used to Globox running away every time an enemy appeared.

They came to a clearing and saw a little pink bush in the ground. Globox let it grow with his fifth raindance of the level. While doing that, Rayman swung from a purple lum and smashed a Teensie cage and collected a large yellow lum on a pirate platform. 

He noticed the door below the platform would close every time he approached it. He needed a disguise. He jumped into the now grown pink bush and carried it with him as he walked. Only his yellow hair and his nose were sticking out. He approached the door and the surveillance light fell on him. “Identification under way,” said the robot operating the door. “Everything’s okay. It’s only a big-nosed bush,” the robot concluded after seeing the pink-and-yellow thing. “Door inactivated.” And the door opened.

Globox wanted to follow Rayman, but he didn’t want to be spotted and recaptured again. So he stayed behind. Also, he remembered. He told Rayman that his wife Uglette wanted to see him apso he went off on his way. The two best friends were separated again. But at least Globox is free now. And Rayman got to enjoy another level with him where he was actually useful.

Past the guarded door, Rayman jumped out of the bush, smashed the cage in front of him and the Teensie with a flower crown came out (“How many times can the same guy be trapped in different cages?” Rayman wondered. “Or are they different Teensies dressed the same way?”). Rayman did his happy dance and a portal appeared, and it’s back to the Hall of Doors! As he was sucked into the vortex, Rayman hoped his best buddy will be okay and not let himself be caught again. You can only catch a raindancing frog one too many times.

***

It was good to have found Globox at last. All this time Rosalynn had been wondering where Globox had fallen from the pirate ship at the very beginning. She knew he had been recaptured, as Ssssam the Snake had told Rayman. But taken to where? She didn’t know until now. She wished Globox wasn’t such a cowardly character, though. Rayman could use another ally — on that can fight — by his side.


	15. Whale Bay

Rayman was whisked away via portal into a ship with an aquarium in front of him. There was a small way next to the aquarium. He went that small away and saw a guy in a barrel with mechanical legs and two evil-looking eyes peeking out from a hole. The barrel guy began shooting lasers at Rayman. “YIKES!” Rayman hopped out of the way. He charged his shot to the max and threw it at the barrel guy and its life points decreased drastically. He threw shot after charged shot at it until it exploded. Rayman then rewarded himself with the red lums his enemy left behind.

He found a second Aquarium with a switch on the wall. The glass wall was too high for him to climb up and jump into the water and reach the switch, so he went back to the first Aquarium and jumped in. He swam underwater and out into Aquarium Two, collecting the blue and yellow lums along the way. He hit the switch on the wall, and the lasers retracted from the door nearby. He was clear to go. 

Rayman went on to climb some webs and collect the lums underneath. He was climbing over water, and piranhas kept jumping up and trying to bite him. He climbed the webs in a zigzag pattern to avoid the piranhas, but still got bit a few times.

Luckily there were some red lums around. After the webs, he came upon a beach with a sunken pirate ship in the sand. Rayman destroyed another pirate shooting at him from the ship, hit another switch and opened another door.

In the door, he jumped over some barrels rolling towards him from a hole with a latch on it. He then found himself on some shallow waters with a small island up ahead. A pirate was sleeping on the island. Rayman shot at the pirate and woke it up. The pirate began chasing him and shooting at him, but Rayman defeated it anyway. Two fully-charged shots at it did the trick. Easy-peasy lemon squeezy.

Rayman picked up a keg and broke open a door by the side of the island. A purple lum flew out and his 35th cage was revealed. He broke the cage, swung from the lum, jumped onto a pirate ship structure and went on his way.

He appeared on another beach with a large and very deep body of water after the sand. A magic stone was on the sand. Rayman stood near the stone and Murfy flew over. “Hey, Rayman! Carmen the Whale is trapped. The pirates want to use her blubber to oil the engines of their prison boat. Go help her! Fast, before it’s too late!”

Rayman thanked Murfy for this information and jumped into the ocean. He swam ahead for a bit and looked behind him. Under the water, right below the sand, he could see his friend Carmen trapped in a prison cell blocked by lasers. It was big enough for a whale but not big enough for a whale to move or swim. To the left of her cell, Rayman saw an underwater cave. He took a deep, deep, deep breath and dived below the surface, and swam towards the cave.

He emerged inside another pirate ship, somehow buried underground. He jumped from the water and into a large room. He did some exploring and found a switch right on top of Carmen and ber cell. He hit it and the lasers in front of her retracted, and she was free! “YEAH!” Rayman cheered.

“To breathe, grab my air bubbles,” Carmen said to Rayman. Rayman went back into the large room and found that the switch he hit had also activated a mechanism that makes those yellow, pencil-like neighing shells appear. He climbed on to one and rode it into another door in the pirate ship. The door burst open and Rayman smashed another cage and collected a trail of red lums. Then he jumped back into the water and went to join Carmen in the ocean.

Rayman followed Carmen into another larger underwater cave, breathing the air bubbles she gave out as he swam. Carmen warned him about the piranhas that were coming to take her air bubbles, so he chased them away by shooting at them. Rayman found the thought of piranhas eating air bubbles a bit silly. They are essentially fishes and they don’t need air, but Rayman does. So why steal air bubbles from Rayman and Carmen?

Rayman followed some blue lums into a tiny underwater cavern. He came upon an air pocket (phew!) and a giant trampoline in the middle of the water. He bounced on the trampoline and collected a vertical trail of red lums. Then he swam out of the cavern and back to Carmen. 

He sucked in a few more air bubbles and swam out of the ocean via the pirate ship near Carmen. He found himself standing on a ledge of a shipwreck. He climbed up some nettings on the ship and went up to the crow’s nest. He broke another cage there. He crossed some wooden boards attached near the crow’s nest and jumped onto a slippery water slide. He slid down, outsmarted another Robo-Gorilla, and rescued another flower-crown Teensie in a cage. That makes 38 cages in total. Two more and he’ll get a max energy boost. Yay!

And we know how Rayman can exit a level with the Teensie. The rest is history.

***

Rosalynn liked the little dance Rayman does with a Teensie right before he leaves a level. If Snoopy from The Peanuts has a signature Happy Dance, so does Rayman now!


	16. The Sanctuary of Stone and Fire - Part 1

Rayman appeared in the Council Chamber of the Teensies for the second time. The Teensie Kings told him he had enough lums to pass through the door. When he emerged into a volcanic area, he knew he was in for a hot, hot level. 

He helicoptered down into a lava maze of some sort. A sign he saw read: “Warning, Labyrinth! If you get lost, contact Robo-Rooters immediately!”

Rayman had a lot to learn in this maze. Other than the usual defeating of Robo-Pirates and swinging from purple lums and collecting his first ever Golden Fist (that makes his single shots much stronger), he had to learn to ride plums.

Yes. Plums. Rayman found that he could shoot a plum off its stem, jump onto it, and ride it. He could make it move by shooting in the opposite direction. The plum also strangely does not burn up or deteriorate when on the lava. It just bounces in place with Rayman on it when he’s not facing or shooting in any direction. He used the plum to cross the labyrinth and collect all the lums and smash all the cages in every corner of the maze he could find.

Rayman also found out he could throw the plum onto vertical poles to cross lava pits; and also at enemies to stick it onto their heads, jump on them, and reach platforms above them. These plums are a real treat in this maze, Rayman decided. He could take one back to where he lived but one is just too heavy to carry so he just scratched that idea.

He broke two cages on the way out of the maze, including his 40th one that made his energy bar extend again. Every 10 cages and he gets his maximum energy level maximised further. Great!

He was now in a grassy area. Murfy came over and summarised everything Rayman learned about the plum. He added a few more points: it can take him across lava AND water, and he can shoot it to move it when it’s far away. Rayman thanked Murfy and rode another plum the left of way, into a tall temple made of stone.

In this temple, Rayman broke four more cages, crossed more lava streams, dodged parts of the wall spitting out fire, and fought off tiny and giant spiders. To get out of the temple, he had to ride a shell multiple times on the same path, over and over again, because he kept dying when he kept crashing into the same ol’ spot. It was a difficult, winding terrain with lava underneath. Rayman lost count of the times he fell into the lava below.

He finally got out of the temple and rode a plum back to the grassy area. Then he rode the right of way, defeated another robo-pirate (on a metal grill surface, not on the plum). And broke one more cage. Then he continued into a strange, creepy cave with weird stone structures and the creepy harp-and-theremin music from the Cave of Bad Dreams began playing again in the background.

Rayman saw a mini Cave-of-Bad-Dreams Guardian bouncing towards him and he knew what to do. He kept shooting at it but it was hard to get it because it kept dodging his shots very effectively and quickly. Its strong reflexes made up for its lack of ability to shoot fire from its mouth at Rayman. Rayman defeated it at last, it turned into a plum magically, and used the plum to get onto a platform and get out of the cave, into the clear, open air once again.


	17. The Sanctuary of Stone and Fire - Part 2

Rayman stepped on a large platform and it crashed, taking him from open air to a new part of the temple. More lava. Ugh.

He caught a bouncing plum and rode downwards, down the lava stream, hitting some swaying vines poking out of holes in the ground to keep them out of the way. He also shot in the opposite directions of yellow pools of lava to keep from falling into them. Maneuvering the plum was easy, once he got the basics. But avoiding vines and lava pools while going downstream is tricky.

At the end of the stream, the plum fell down a large hole and a lavafall (a waterfall of lava), and Rayman just kept ridin’ and shootin’. He went into a small lava alleyway, bounced and climbed up some webs and broke cage number 46. “YEAH!” he cheered. Then he rode the plum to the end of stream a second time and jumped into a hole in the wall. 

He found himself in a dark temple of some sort. He picked up the orange sphere on the ground and tossed it to the next platform. He shot some black “nightmare balls” to keep them away and dodged rotating prisms spitting out fire from two sides, carrying that sphere at the same time. He and the prism reached the last platform and he walked into the door. 

He crossed a straight lava pit by tossing the sphere into the air, shooting the far-away plum to make it come towards him, then stepping onto the plum. He then faced the other direction (backwards), tossed the sphere upwards again, threw a shot, and caught the sphere just as the plum started moving forwards in the lava. He then threw the sphere towards the ground ahead of him and jumped off the plum, and he successfully crossed the lava pit.

After chasing away some more nightmares he put the orange sphere onto the orange base in the next room. A circular shape in the wall began rotating and the hole in the shape revealed where to go next. Rayman now had to find a blue sphere to put on the blue base in the same room. He climbed up to the shape and jumped in. He was back at the lavafall and the lava stream. 

To find the blue sphere he had to cross the lava stream, shoot at and break open a hole in the wall blocked by stones, slide on the most slippery surfaces in the temple, and swing on purple lums to cross more lava pits at the end of the slide. He fell back into the “base room” and saw the blue sphere on top a tall block of stone. He grabbed it and put it onto the blue base below and the statue of Umber (the Guardian of the Sanctuary of Stone and Fire) came to life in that room. 

Rayman jumped onto Umber’s stone head and Umber took him to some stairs across another straight lava pit. Rayman then emerged before another stone structure, which opened up to reveal the second Mask of Polokus. Rayman took the mask and held it up high, and found himself before Polokus again.

“Ah, you have found the second mask. Good for you!” Polokus took the mask and added it to his stone seat. Then he created another portal and let it slide through Rayman’s body. “Be careful! Your task will only get harder,” Polokus warned as Rayman disappeared back to the Hall of Doors.

***

That was possibly the most time-consuming and HARDEST level Rosalynn had ever played in a classic video game dating before 2000. And also the level with the highest number of cages to smash so far. Eight cages! Four more to her current total “smash count” and she’ll get another maximum energy level extension. Rosalynn couldn’t remember exactly where each cage was located in all those levels, but smashing each one AND extending Rayman’s life points was purely rewarding. She was halfway through the game. And what better way to celebrate and take a break than to with a cup of tea (she IS British, after all) and to cuddle with her Korean boo?


	18. The Echoing Caves

A Robo-Pirate walked in the pouring rain. Strangely, he was not rusting or short-circuiting. He stopped and turned and faced a big, open door. He looked around him to see if anyone’s following. Nobody. He walked in and the door closed behind him.

Rayman popped out in the same area from a portal a few moments later. It was raining very heavily and Rayman wasn’t wearing any rain gear of any sort for protection. But oh well, a hero’s gotta deal with what a hero’s gotta deal with, no?

The big door the pirate had walked through was controlled by four switches to open them. Rayman defeated a pirate chasing after him first then went to search for the switches. He found the first one nearby, on the external part of a pirate ship past some carpeted stairs. Good. On to the next.

From the stairs, he jumped onto a grassy ledge where an arrow was pointing to a hole. He jumped down the hole and saw a plum tree and a pool of water. He dived into a pool and swam until he reached an air pocket with a switch No.2 inside. He hit it and swam back up to the plum tree. 

He took a plum and threw it onto the nearby robo-PEST-gorilla’s head. He then climbed up the rope behind it and went on his way until he found the third switch. It was behind a sleeping pirate that was guarding it. Rayman defeated the pirate and hit the switch. Three down, one to go! 

Rayman found the fourth switch on the external part of ANOTHER pirate ship. That was after he rode some flying platforms, got past a piranha pond with a water wheel in it, and hit a button that opened a gate for only a few seconds for him to pass through. The big door was fully unlocked now. Rayman walked into the door and jumped down a hole.

Rayman was then in a dark, cave-y swamp of some sort with green, toxic water. He had to light a keg on fire again with a torch to ride across the swamp. But first, he picked up a ked and threw it at the door behind him. It burst open and there was a cage behind it. He broke it open. Cage number 47. Three more and he’ll have an energy bar extension.

Then he lit that keg on fire and off he goes! He landed on a platform in the middle of the swamp, collected everything he could collect (and smashed another cage), lit another keg and continued the rest of the ride. With the keg, he flew up to another cavern with a Teensie sign on the ceiling and let go of the keg. He then jumped down the hole where the arrow was pointing and found himself in an old level……


	19. Back to the Fairy Glade

Rayman was back at the Fairy Glade. He hoped that this time he could collect the last few lums, and also break the last cage that he could not get at the last time he was there. He was determined to completely clear the level and make Polokus proud by healing the heart of the world by collecting every piece of it scattered all over. 

He came at a bridge and saw a plum branch to his left. He shot the plum and it fell off the branch. He jumped on it and rode across the murky waters to some webs. He climbed the webs, leaving the plum in the water, over a metal grating and onto a wooden platform in the water. He jumped across some more platforms and hung onto some webs. He climbed across the webs horizontally and shot at any nightmares approaching him. 

He landed on a platform after the webs. He then swung from the purple lums and jumped from some more platforms to cross the rest of the water. He landed onto some wooden bridges. A pirate started throwing flaming barrels at him. He saw a spot marked with an ‘X’ in the bridges. He had an idea. He stood on the spot and waited for the pirate to throw a barrel at him and jumped out of the way just in time. The section of the bridge gave way and he jumped into the pirate structure. 

Rayman then defeated a pirate sitting on a throne inside and broke his 49th cage. Then jumped down the hole in front of the throne and returned to the Echoing Caves.

Well, it was pretty short, wasn’t it? Rayman wondered why he couldn’t just clear the level in one go and had to wait until he’s halfway through his adventure to be able to go back to a level and collect the last of its collectibles.


	20. Return to the Echoing Caves

Rayman was back in the cave-swamp. He landed down on a platform and outsmarted another robo-gorilla by letting him fall into the green toxic water and short-circuiting then exploding. Rayman wondered why those robo-pirates had to bring along their pet gorillas to his world in the first place. Then hit lit another keg on fire and flew across the water and hit a switch with it. The switch opened another door behind him and he went through it.

Rayman went deeper into the cave. He tossed a cage up and smashed his 50th cage. He was five-eights of the way there! He felt his energy bar extend and all his wounds were healed. He lit another keg on fire and rode across the swamp to another platform. There, he fought and destroyed a pirate and broke Cage 51 hanging from the ceiling (which he accessed from climbing some ropes on the walls and the ceiling). He then hit a button to make some grills go up, and lit a keg and rode out of there in time before the grill came back down again.

He rode out of the caves and let go. He grabbed some ropes on the cliff walls and climbed to safety to a green lum. He broke Cage 52 and set another Teensie free. Together, they danced their happy dance and went out of the level and back into the Hall of Doors!


	21. Meanwhile...... (2)

Meanwhile in the Buccaneer, the slave count onboard has increased up to 33,524 now. Admiral Razorbeard’s right-hand robot approached his leader’s cabin.

“What is it?” the admiral asked. 

“Your ferocity…… Rayman already has two masks……”

“YOU IDIOTIC FOOL!” Razorbeard cried. He took off his pirate hat and threw it at his right-hand robot. “Go get him and bring him back to me, dead or alive!!!”


	22. The Precipice

This was one of those levels that keeps a player on their feet, Rayman decided. As soon as he appeared, a warship kept throwing bombs at him, right to the very end. It was very annoying. And noisy.

Alongside having to dodge those bombs, he also had to deal with rickety bridges, dodging red, explosive shells the pirates dropped his way, climb nettings on the walls of the cliff (and horizontally, too!) and get to the top of a pirate structure before the water levels rise too high and drown him. Rayman fell into the water countless, countless, countless times but his lengthened life bar helped him to get to the end without feeling too weak or drained (he thanked the pirates for putting those cages up in the first place. Ironically, they helped to save his life!).

Also, he broke three cages and defeated another pirate when he almost reached the top, but that’s yesterday’s news, no?

Rayman was never stationery for too long and had to have quick reflexes and be equally quick on his feet. At one point of the level, he even had to helicopter slowly down a rocky cliff with a dark, dark abyss below him that extends who knows how far. He didn’t know if he was going the right direction and how far down he had to go. He only had the light of the lums to guide him so he just followed the lums. And the warship hidden somewhere shot up bombs at him and he shot at them before they could hit him from below. He eventually landed on a wooden bridge and continued his way from there.

Finally, he emerged in the open air. Another more interesting and challenging robo-pirate came up and attacked him. It shot at him from afar and swung its weapon at him when it managed to get closer to him. Rayman dodged all its attacks and took advantage of the warship’s very bad bomb aim to destroy the pirate. It crashed into a million pieces and the hero was rewarded with more red lums, mm-mmm!

Rayman then broke Cage 58 in a very small hole and went up above the hole, onto the pirate ship, to collect two, big, smiley yellow lums. He then went back into the hole, danced a cute Happy Dance with the Teensie, and buh-bye, crazy, dangerous and often frustrating level!

He had broken six cages in this level. Two more and he’ll gain another energy level extension. Wow. By his 80th cage, it would take a LOT of deaths before the pirates could actually kill him, Rayman figured.


	23. The Top of the World

This level was a roller-coaster ride. Literally. Well, the first half of it is. After outsmarting yet another robo-gorilla, Rayman sat on a metal chair attached to some sort of zipline, and it took him for a ride through the forest.

Rayman turned and turned on the zipline in his chair and dodged all the obstacles the pirates had created AND collected all the lums along the way. He had never ridden a rotating roller-coaster before. This was his first time. It was slightly nauseating but also very cool. The pirates do know how to make some things fun sometimes.

After the hazardous ride seemingly stretching on forever, he found himself inside another pirate ship. “How many pirate ships do these guys have?” Rayman wondered. Hundreds probably. Thousands? And the Buccaneer was the most dangerous one of them all, what with its mounting slave count. He wondered how many of his people they had managed to capture and what he had to do to save them all.

But never mind. First things first. He destroyed another barrel guy and dodged his stink bombs at the same time. A few fully-charged, electrifying shots from his fist did the trick. The barrel guy exploded and left some red lums behind, and Rayman happily collected them all.

He then jumped over some more kegs rolling in his direction up ahead, and collecting some more red lums. He climbed up some rope and then found himself in a room full of boxes. Some of the boxes, assumingly cargo of some sorts, stretching as tall and high as the ceiling of the pirate ship’s cargo room. Rayman began to hang onto and climb on top of all of the boxes to get all the yellow lums he could.

But not before defeating another barrel guy. There was a keg dispenser coincidentally in the same room. Rayman picked up a keg and threw it at the barrel guy, and he was defeated in one go. “YEAH!” Rayman shouted. And then he broke cage 59 in the corner of the room.

He found a small way behind some really talk boxes and started to explore. He came across a large abyss and a floating platform with rotating turbines underneath it, just like the ones in the Echoing Caves, was in the way. Rayman could either climb the webs above him, horizontally, to cross to the other side or ride the floating platform. He decided to climb, as he noticed that the platform could just turn upside down when it reached the other side and the turbines facing upwards could kill him. He dropped onto the other side and found a door blocked with bandages. Shooting at it didn’t help. Maybe throwing a keg at it will do. Oh, well. Back to the drawing board.

Rayman got himself and a keg from the cargo room to the other side of the abyss by riding the platform, the jumping off it right before it rotates upside down and exposes its turbines on the top. He threw the keg at the door and hey, presto! It worked. Behind the door, a Teensie waved at him in a small room, from its little throne-seat. Rayman wondered how long it had been in there, locked up in such a little room. But no matter. Whenever he saw a Teensie with a flower crown on it, he knew his level had come to an end, or almost the end. 

He followed the Teensie out of the room to where the portal was going to appear after they danced in front of it. Along the way, Rayman defeated another barrel guy, collected the rest of the lums of this level, and broke his 60th cage. And up his energy level went along with its maximum point!

Then Rayman did the routine Happy Dance with the Teensie and waved goodbye to yet another level.

***

This was a relatively easy level. Rosalynn needed one after a bollocks-hard and frustrating one like The Precipice. And when was the last time she had gone for a roller-coaster ride? On her own or with friends or family? She couldn’t remember. Amusement parks worldwide aren’t what they used to be in the second half of the 21st century. She planned on taking a trip down to Parc Asterix or Parc Disneyland in France sometime soon with her boo.


	24. The Walk of Power

Another swampy area? Alright. At least it’s not hot, hot lava. This level is called “The Sanctuary of Rock and Lava”. It’s not lava yet.

Rayman jumped onto the stone to his left. It was surrounded by pillars with Ly’s face carved into them. The image of Ly meditating was floating above the stone. “Here you can win Life Force and Power,” Rayman heard Ly’s voice said. “You have collected enough lums to go there.” And a portal appeared in the stone and Rayman was sucked into another level.

Rayman had another timed race against Ly. It was fun and made a great break from the mask-finding, warship-bomb-dodging and pirate-fighting. But not lum-collecting. Rayman still had to collect lums in this level. He collected all 50 of them and made it to the finish line. But Ly had beaten him to it.

Never mind. Ly still gave Rayman a reward anyway — 1 minute and 45. 41 seconds was still a good speed record. The fairy gave Rayman a golden fist. If he gets hit three times he will lose the fist, but it was good to have it. He felt more powerful, and more prepared to take on any enemy.

Thank you, Ly!

***

Rosalynn visualised gaining a golden fist and using it to shut up all the DOGS in her old workplace by punching them FLAT in the face every time they let out a bark. It was a really satisfying mental image.


	25. The Sanctuary of Rock and Lava

He was back in the swamp. He went ahead and fought a pirate on a piece of netting and smashed it. Then he jumped onto a platform and started sailing down the swamp. It was just like in the Bayou, he remembered, zombie chickens and all.

He jumped onto a steady wooden bridge and jumped over some barrels. Then he swung from a purple lum and landed on a tree branch of some sort. And from there he dropped onto another branch in the swamp. 

He shot some giant eyes and broke a piranha’s teeth on it. Then he jumped on some rocks and jumped again onto another bridge. He turned around and saw the source of the sound calling for help. He shot at and broke cage number 61. A purple lum flew out of the cage and he grabbed it and swung some more. He then grabbed a golden fist and made his way into the temple. 

He shot all the eyes bouncing around like crazy in front of him and made his way in. He shot at some nightmares going up a slope, jumped from the platform and broke cage number 62. He went through a door and shot at more black, poofy nightmares and climbed some bars on the wall to the other side. He shot and some swaying vines in the way, jumped on a purple flower and began riding it.

During the ride, he shot back at the same vines as the flower was retracing his steps. He broke cage number 63 and quietly rode down a hole made out of vines. More vines. Oh, great. It was like the Cave of Bad Dreams, only minus the creepy harp-and-theremin music, and that this time the vines can shoot out of the walls and hit you in the face if you don’t shoot them first.

In the “vine hole” Rayman shot at a blocked door, while still on the flower, to clear his path. Some fire burned the flower so he jumped to safety to the next flower ahead of him. The second flower burned also later on so he jumped onto the third flower.

The third flower eventually disappeared into thin air after taking Rayman past some vines so Rayman helicoptered down onto a platform and saw…… surprise, surprise, lava.

Rayman jumped onto some platforms in the lava — some of them not very steady — and broke cage number 64. He then jumped over some fire being shot out by a panel in the wall and shot at a vine. He came across a button and shot at it multiple times to make a platform emerge from the concrete in the lava. He then jumped onto the platform and continued deeper into the temple. 

What he saw next filled him with anxiety. It was a very big rotating concrete or stone platform with a lavafall (like a waterfall but with lava) falling right on it on one side. Rayman dodged the lavafall by using a section jutting out of the rotating platform to shield himself from the lava. He stood under the section and could cross the lavafall and to safety. Then he climbed up some bars and smashed Cage 65 hanging in the far corner of the chamber.

He hit a button, a door opened, and he continued on his way. He banished some more nightmares away in the next room (this temple doesn’t seem a good place for sweet dreams, what with all those vines and the lava……). He then shot at a button in the wall many, many times to open up the door ahead of him. And going into it, he shot at a vine standing in front of the door, and entered the next room. 

The first thing he heard was another call for help. He climbed down some bars near the door he just passed through, stood on a platform and broke cage number 66. Then he climbed back up the bars before the platform he was standing on tilted and fell into the lava. Then he crossed some more long platforms before the “vine walls” (concrete walls with vines) on those platforms pushed him out into the lava. “YEAH!” he cheered, when he made it past them.

He crossed the lava again via some small platforms and went into a quiet, tall, lava-free (phew!) room. He collected a lum behind a pillar and broke his 67th cage hanging from the ceiling. A Teensie with a flower crown popped out and landed infront of him, and the rest was history.


	26. Beneath the Sanctuary of Rock and Lava

The Council Chamber of the Teensies again. Rayman had passed through this place at least three times now. It’s always the same requirements needed — lums — to pass through the door and it’s always a “new world” behind the same door. Or is it a different door with the same design? Don’t know. Only the Teensies will know.

Rayman wasn’t shy anymore. He knew what he must do and what it took to find all the Masks of Polokus and rid his world of those pirates. But even if it’s not shyness, Rayman still hesitated a bit before pushing open the chamber door.

Rayman appeared in the same temple as the previous level, but he could sense that he was deeper into it. He felt hot. Really hot. He walked over to the edge of the platform he was standing on and saw lava, and quickly stepped back. Rayman looked up. There was a way upwards but the walls of the hole were covered with vines all over. Rayman started to think. How could he get around in a vine-and-lava-filled place like this? That was when Ly appeared.

“Rayman,” Ly began in her whispery voice, “I have good news and bad news.”

“Start with the good news,” Rayman said.

“The good news is that I have gathered enough lums to give you a new power.” Ly put her hands together and a silver lum materialised. She gave the lum to Rayman who absorbed it and danced with joy. “A new power? Yippeeeee!” 

“Now you can fly with your helicopter,” Ly explained. “And the bad news is that your mission gets harder. So here’s some advice: use your helicopter power to fly. Just activate your helicopter and keep A pressed down. Press Control to move around, it’ll be much easier. Good luck, Rayman!” And Ly calmly disappeared again.

The first thing Rayman did when in flight was shoot the nightmare bouncing about on the opposite side of the room, and then collect a vertical trail of red lums to store up on energy. On the other side of the room he turned around and saw a small door in the wall under the platform he first landed on, very close to the lava. He shot the door and flew into it, careful not to touch the lava. Walking on another platform, he shot a vine and broke his 68th cage. He then flew out of the little door and up into the way covered with vines.

The vines that stock out and wave at him could not be shot back into the walls. At least the little nightmares that come at him while in flight will disappear after being shot at. Rayman landed near a big fan. It was blowing things in one direction. Rayman activated his helicopter again, and began flying in that direction, too.

In this single-direction flight, Rayman avoided more lava, more vines, more nightmares and some flames shooting out of rotating prisms. He shot at two blocked doors and cleared the way. At the end of the first part of his flight, he broke Cage 69 and collected a large yellow lum (worth five little yellow lums) hidden behind a pillar. Then he shot downwards by shooting the slanted tip of the pillar which aimed his shot downwards, and cleared the way of a hole in the ground, and jumped in.

Time for Flight Round 2! Rayman stood in front of another big fan. He could see multiple lava falls that he had to weave around and fly past in helicopter mode. Ulp! This flight is more hazardous than he thought. Oh well, off he went! 

After the lava falls, he had to fly above, under, around and in between some more vines, while still careful not to touch the stream of lava underneath him. He flew to the left side and landed on concrete, sweet concrete. He broke Cages 70 and 71 and collected the lums inside them. His energy bar maxed out and extended to its longest level. Rayman jumped for joy. He felt powerful, ready to take on the world and the pirates that infest it.

He kept flying his way out of the sanctuary and shooting at more vines until he came across another door. The door opened and Rayman flew through it. So. Much. Lava. Rayman has seen enough lava to last him a lifetime. So what next? As Rayman looked around him, he didn’t notice Foutch, the Guardian of the Sanctuary of Rock and Lava, sneak up behind him. Foutch knocked Rayman into the lava and also knocked the flight power out of him.

“AAAAAAAAAH! I CAN’T FLY ANYMORE!” Rayman screamed as he fell down and landed on a thin platform in the lava. Foutch approached from behind and Rayman noticed him. He had to fight this guardian off now to get his hands on the third mask. Here goes…… 

Foutch threw some flames at him, coming out in a series of horizontal and vertical lines. As Rayman ran forward, he jumped over the horizontal flames and dodged the vertical ones. He saw a spring of spider webs and bounced on it. Foutch, just in time, was directly beneath a stone stalactite attached to the bottom of an overhead bridge. Rayman shot the stalactite and it fell on top of Foutch’s head, depleting his energy by a third.

Foutch spun in circles and black smoke came out of him. Rayman kept running and dodging and jumping over his fire and bouncing on the web and he let the guardian have a taste of the stalactite two more times. Foutch exploded and red lums came out of him. “YEAH!” Rayman cheered. In his opinion, this fight in a lava temple was not as “cool” (mind the pun) or as challenging as the fight with Axel (the guardian of the Sanctuary of Water and Ice), but it was still one, er, “hot” fight and tired him out.

Rayman bounced on the webs again to collect the red lums. He then swung from a purple lum and landed on one of the overhead bridges. He walked across the bridge and jumped down a hole and made his way towards the Third Mask of Polokus. The stone structure opened up in his presence and revealed the brown mask. Rayman climbed up the structure, took the mask and held it up high, and he disappeared and reappeared in front of Polokus again.

“Congratulations!” Polokus said. “You have found the third mask. Just one more mask and the miracle will come true.” Polokus added the mask to his stone structure. Then he created a portal and passed in through Rayman’s body. “Go…… quickly!”

***

Alright, that’s the third mask, one to go! Rosalynn decided to take another tea break. Heck, it’s HER game. She can return to it any time she wants.


	27. Meanwhile...... (3)

Meanwhile……

Somewhere in the sky…… in the pirates’ Buccaneer warship. The slave count had increased to 45,263.

Admiral Razorbeard’s right-hand robot walked into the cabin, bracing himself for the yelling he might receive next.

“Now what?” Razorbeard demanded.

“He… he's found the third mask,” the right-hand robot mumbled.

“WHAT?! BUT THAT’S NOT POSSIBLE!!!” Razorbeard thundered. In anger, he stood up and jumped on his chair and fell off from it, dangling from it.

The right-hand robot lowered his head.

“If he finds that fourth one,” Razorbeard warned, “I’ll be coming for you……”


	28. Tomb of the Ancients

Rayman landed in a graveyard. Death was everywhere he looked. Creepy. It was like the Cave of Bad Dreams all over again, except that he couldn’t just wake up from it this time, and with even creepier music.

The sign in front of him read: “Clark was captured here before being brought to the technical check-up.” Poor Clark! How long was he captured here all alone, with no one but the souls of the dead for company? Rayman smashed a cage and hit a switch and opened a door. He had to find Clark!

Rayman fought off another spider just like in The Canopy and jumped into a robo-pirate’s tomb (at least ONE of them is dead, Rayman thought). He hit the switch on the coffin with the robotic corpse in it and a platform emerged somewhere out of green water. He dodged some more spiders in the tomb and climbed out of it on their webs. 

He jumped on some platforms and had fun breaking the teeth of the piranha that jumped out of the water in between them. It went Clink! and just disappeared. Rayman liked that sound. It was so satisfying. He climbed up another web and turned left. He saw another switch. But to get to it, he had to fight off another pirate, shoot the giant skeletal hand in the large treasure chest to make it retract, and climb up a HUGE web and dodge another spider. It was definitely no playground here. Rayman willed himself to complete the level as fast as he could.

The second platform in the green lake rose. One more switch to go. Rayman retraced his steps and turned right this time. He walked into a cemetery area and fought off another robot that just popped out of a coffin. Success! Then flicked the third switch hidden behind a tombstone and the third platform rose in the lake, and now he could cross the lake.

Crossing the lake was fun — more piranhas to shoot and break their teeth. Rayman then climbed up a huge web (spiders seem to run the place here and it shows) and went to find the 1000th lum of the game. Razorbeard, after eating it up on his Buccaneer, must have pooped it out in here somehow. Rayman hoped that he won’t find any Robo-Pirate poop in here, if they can produce poop.

The 1000th lum is hidden in a secret and very well concealed area in the game, and all games have their secrets. Good luck finding the lum, fellow players!

Rayman then found himself near a “Death Stream”. The remains of the dead are probably being washed away in this stream of water — NOT a good place for a swim! Rayman saw a hexagonal platform he could ride, but there was a grill blocking it. He hit some gears on the wall and made them turn and the grill went up. Rayman hopped onto the platform and began his “joy” ride down the stream.

The platform floated near some webs and Rayman climbed up. He defeated a pirate and hit a switch and some lasers disappeared. Rayman walked past the lasers. He crossed a few wooden bridges and landed on another hexagonal platform. Wheeeeee! Another “joy” ride!

This place was beyond bleak, gloomy and morbid. But Rayman made an effort to try and stay as optimistic and cheerful as possible. He will not let the gloominess or the stench of this place get him down. That’s the last thing a hero of light like him needs.

Rayman climbed some more webs (yay, spiders) and picked up a keg. He lit it and took a ride in the air into a hole in the upper section of a wall. He fell down into another part of the Death Swamp. He rode another ked to another platform in the middle of the swamp and collected all the red lums there. Then he rode another keg downwards to a bridge. He broke his 73rd cage and defeated another pirate. Easy-peasy.

And it’s time for another “joy” ride on the hexagonal platform! The platform floated down really slowly down the smelly stream, much to Rayman’s impatience. He floated down to some webs stretched out horizontally for him to climb on. As he climbed, he shot at the zombie chickens that keep materialising every one second. They stopped appearing after he reached the end of the web. It was really like back in the Bayou, Rayman thought, only creepier and smellier.

He continued his ride on the hexagon and swung from a purple lum and climbed another web upwards. He shot at every damn zombie chicken that kept zooming his way. He climbed onto different pillars supporting the ceiling and smashed his 74th cage. Then he swung from another purple lum and collected sweet, sweet red lums and landed down on land sweet land (concrete, really).

Rayman saw another stupid web and climbed up. A large spider came over and knocked him back down. He fought off a spider by climbing right back up to the highest point of the web, jumping away from the spider, then shooting at it before he landed on the ground. Rayman was thankful the spider could not climb down its own web. He repeated this act a few times until he defeated the spider. He went on his way and shot at some gears and fell into a hole that was covered with grill.

Rayman sniffed himself. He was going to need a good bath under a light waterfall or stream when he gets out of this level.

And it’s another ride through the Death Stream. Rayman hit some buttons on the wall and some lasers retracted, allowing him to pass unharmed. Two platforms began floating downstream together — Rayman’s and an empty one. Up ahead a pirate began tossing flaming barrels at Rayman. Rayman hopped from platform to platform to dodge the barrels in time as they hit the previous platform he was standing on.

He floated past the pirate and climbed up some nettings (finally, no more webs!). He found himself in another pirate ship. He walked further in and a “Big Shot” pirate began shooting some big shots at him. Rayman ran round and round the room trying to dodge those bullets and shoot back at the same time. It was exhausting and he could feel his limbless body sweating. But he did it. The pirate crashed and Rayman ate up some more delicious red lums.

He went to pick up a keg in the corner of the room and tossed it at a door at the top of some stairs. Voila, his 75th cage. Rayman then swung from a purple lum and climbed up some more nettings. He went on his way and found himself near a big door. Rayman read the sign next to it: “Technical Check-up”. This is it. Clark is here. He went inside and saw his best buddy sitting on the ground.

“Clark?” Rayman called out to his bud.

Clark looked up. “RAYMAN!” The big-chinned, muscle-bound giant got u and ran to hug Rayman. But he suddenly stopped, his hands outstretched. Weird circles spun in his eyes. From afar in the same chamber he could hear the sound of a remote control. Clarked walked in a circle as if he was being possessed. Rayman’s excitement and joy evaporated. Rayman’s friend was being mind-controlled by a pirate.

Clark began to attack him. Rayman ran around the room to dodge his hits. He hit three switches in one wall and a laser appeared. Rayman led Clark over to the laser and he tripped over it. Rayman kept shooting at the mechanical box on Clark’s back until it exploded. He had won! And Clark was himself again. 

Rayman and Clark celebrated their friendship. Rayman broke cage number 76 and a Teensie with a flower crown — another friend — came out. Rayman left the level and returned again to smash the last cage of the level that he missed. Then he went back to the Woods of Light and took a good, long shower under the waterfall.


	29. The Iron Mountains

“Welcome to the Council Chamber of the Teensies!” the (temporary) king of the Teensies greeted Rayman again. “Splendid! You have collected enough lums to pass through.” The Teensie took off his crown and gave it to the one behind him in queue. “Prepare yourself to discover a new world!” The second Teensie said, and all four of them gestured towards a large door behind them.

Rayman walked up to the door and hesitated to open it. After the last three sanctuaries, the fourth and final mask must surely be the hardest one to find now, isn’t it?

“Come on! Don’t be shy!” the Teensies urged him on.

Oh well. Only one way to find out! And Rayman pushed open the door.

He emerged in a rainy area. A long bridge was in front of him and there were purple lums floating everywhere in the air. Rayman swung from them and collected the yellow lums. He then crossed the wooden bridge and into a pirate-made machine. Ah, shelter at last. 

Rayman climbed up some nettings and swung from another purple lum and jumped onto a large rotating hexagonal platform. There was a large red laser cutting right through the platform and several blue lasers blocking access to the hole in the center of the platform. Rayman hit two switches and blue lasers were turned off. He dropped down the hole and landed in a swampy, grassy area. 

He fought off two pirates (the second one could throw flaming barrels at him!) and picked up a Golden Fist. Then in a very large clearing he fought off two more (and dodged more shots and flaming barrels). He then climbed up some boxes onto a wooden bridge high above ground and destroyed his 78th cage hanging from it.

He went on past the bridge, hit a switch and a gate opened. He defeated his fifth pirate of the level and climbed up some nettings. He found himself before a very swift waterfall.

Rayman held the mask up high, and he found himself before Polokus again. He defeated another pirate and broke a cage suspended on a platform above the water. Then he hopped and helicoptered from box to box in the water (he could not fly with his helicopter in this level) to get downstream, and he landed in a hot air balloon waiting just for him near the end of the waterfall.

The hot air balloon took him to another grassy clearing with a pirate-made building and some menhirs on the ground at the front. An enormous robot with two legs was jumping about on the outside. Every time it jumped and hit the ground, the menhirs and a big wooden box on the ground would lift off the ground upon impact, too. Rayman climbed up the box and waited for the robot to jump. When it hit the ground, the box jumped, too, making it high enough for Rayman to jump and grab onto the hole in the wall of the structure and slide in.

Inside, Rayman outsmarted another Robo-Gorilla standing in the way. The gorilla fell off the bridge and into the dirty, murky water beneath. Rayman saw a sign and walked closer to read it. It said “Reformatory Centre for disturbing children.” Children?! Could young creatures like Globox’s frog children be captured by the pirates and trapped in here? Hmm. Better look around, just in case.

Rayman climbed up some stairs and broke cage number 80, the last cage of the game (YIPPEE!). He felt his energy bar extend to its maximum length. Any pirate that comes his way will find it very hard to defeat him, it will!

Rayman jumped up a box and shot at a spot in the wall marked ‘X’. Some of Globox’s children came running out. They have been set free! They bounced out of the hole with glee. Rayman was astounded. How could those pirates capture innocent, possibly frightened children, label them as “disturbing”, and lock them up in a building built just for them?! Rayman looked inside the hole and made sure there were no more children. Satisfied, he continued on his journey. 

Rayman jumped up into another big hole in the wall from the box he was standing on (after waiting for the box to leap off the ground on impact from the robot outside). He slid down the hole and hopped onto a shell. It neighed and set off into the outside of the building. And from there it was a gravity-defying ride to collect all the lums on the roof of the building AND to run into some switches to open a big door and set more children free! The poor children! They were being shot with some gun attached to a wall! Run, children, run! Be safe from this menacing monster of a “reformatory” and reunite with your parents!

As the kids escaped out the door, Rayman steered his shell to the front of the building with the giant robot watching him. The robot chased him, trampling over everything in its path. When it trampled over the menhirs, Rayman rode around and collected the yellow lums underneath them. Rayman then rode away from the centre, and he jumped onto a metal grill some distance off. He then let go of the shell and continued the rest of the level on foot.

Rayman appeared in a dark area with murky water all over. A plum tree was growing plums and the plums were just dropping onto a box in the water and then dropping into the water and disintegrating. Strange how they can take one across lava but they can’t survive a little murky water.

Rayman jumped onto the box and caught himself a plum. He threw the plum onto some land nearby and went and stood on it. He shot forward, facing the water, so that the plum would move backwards, away from the water, and he jumped up when he was close enough to collect a big yellow lum that was otherwise too high to collect without standing on a lum. He then waved the plum goodbye as it bounced off land and disintegrated into the water. 

He swung from a purple lum and collected the last big lum of the game — the last yellow lum that made up the heart of the world. WOOHOO! Rayman then continued on his way until he saw Uglette, Globox’s wife, crying by a pirate ship. Rayman went up to her and comforted her by holding her hand.

“It’s horrible, Rayman,” Uglette weeped. “The pirates have taken all my babies.”

“To where?” Rayman asked.

“They’ve imprisoned them in cages inside the mines.” Uglette sniffed. “My darling Globox tried to stop them, but the pirates have captured him, too! And they've taken him to their prison ship.”

Globox’s children were captured and Globox, even though he had to do something, allowed himself to be captured again? Oh, no.

Rayman was touched by his friend’s bravery. He was determined to save the frog couple’s children and make Uglette feel better. He saw the pirate ship parked nearby. “Hmm. With this, I can rescue the kids in the mines.” Rayman hopped onto the ship. He wasn’t sure how to pilot it, but he’ll figure it out. “Don’t cry, Uglette! I’ll bring your babies back.” And that’s a promise. And a promise is a promise in Rayman’s world.

Rayman started the flying ship and began navigating above the murky water. He first went to the South Mines, the mines nearest to him, and parked in front of it. About 100 to 200 of Globox’s children came out. They must have broken out of their cages and were waiting for someone to save them. Good. For such small children they were very strong. Rayman hoped that in the other mines, the rest of the children have broken their chains, too, and were ready to be picked up by flying ship.

Rayman made his way through the labyrinth of pipes, toxic waste water and pirate structures very slowly, as he didn’t really know how to pilot that flying vehicle and didn’t want to run into anything. Some of the structures even had pirates on them shooting at his ship as he flew by. Hit things or get shot too many times and he and the ship and all the children he had picked up go down. Uglette and Globox wouldn’t like that. So he flew very carefully.

He reached the West, North and East mines, in that order, and picked up the rest of the unchained children. Then he very carefully flew back to Uglette and reunited her with her children.

One of the babies jumped out of the ship and approached its mommy. Uglette opened her tearful eyes, saw her baby, and let out a cry of joy. “My baby!” She hugged it tight and it hugged her back.

“Look, Uglette. Here are the others,” Rayman gestured to the ship and one by one the hundreds of children hopped off the ship and gathered around their mother. Some of them began dancing around their family. Some began singing and some began clapping their hands. 

“Oh, Rayman. Thank you!” Uglette whispered from the heart. She was really grateful to Rayman. And now she and her children can all go home. 

“Take this ship and go home. I’ll go and rescue Globox, too. You’ve told me where he’s taken,” Rayman promised. He hoped that he did not damage the ship too much when rescuing the children so that the frogs can go back to their pond safely.

“Wait, one more thing!” the first baby that stepped off the ship spoke up. “Look what found in the mines.” It stepped towards Rayman and pulled out a mask from its mouth. It was the fourth mask! Rayman was nearly in tears of joy himself.

The little frog put the mask on. “Look what I found in the mines!” He repeated. “You saved us. Rayman can have it.” He gave it to Rayman. The whole family piled into the pirate ship and got ready to take off. “Good luck, Rayman,” Uglette wished the hero.

“Goodbye!” Rayman waved back. He held the mask up high, and he found himself before Polokus again.

“At last, the fourth mask. Bravo, Rayman! You have brought me back.”

Rayman beamed. Polokus put the fourth mask into the stone he was sitting on.

“The pirates won’t last long,” he said. “I will use my powers to destroy their fort and rid the world of the robots that infest it.”

“Great!” Rayman cried.

“But alas, my powers have limits.”

“Oh?” 

On Earth, the lums make me invincible. But in the air, I am as vulnerable as a new-born. It’s you who will have to fight on the prison ship.”

“Mm-hmm,” Rayman nodded.

“I am going to give you maximum energy.” Polokus gave Rayman some power and healed all of his wounds. Then he and the top part of the stone he was sitting on floated into the air. The rest of the stone, a mask on each surface, started rotating faster and faster until a magical portal appeared.

“Now, go and find Razorbeard! Go quickly, and have no fear!”

Rayman stuck an inch of his nose inside the portal, then walked his whole body into it. And he disappeared, far from the Earth, and high up into the air...... 

***

Such cute little froggies. Rosalynn wondered how many children in total does Globox have. Hundreds? Thousands? And how did one of them find the mask in the first place? It was mentioned that he, she or it found it in the mines. Where? Looks like this is one part of the adventure Rayman won’t get to solve or experience.

Now, it’s time to fight the pirates!


	30. Meanwhile...... (4)

Meanwhile……

Razorbeard receives a special guest in his ship. A purple, formal-looking creature put down his suitcase and began presenting some blueprints for an invention……

“Rayman poisoning your life?” the creature said. “I’ve got the antidote.”

Razorbeared listened with great interest. “Equipped with the latest power booster, nothing can stop it. You can control it yourself, or put it in self-pilot. It can kill, crush, destroy, torture, pull ears……”

“Pull ears? Now that’s a feature!” Razorbeard thought.

“It’s legs are programmed to squash fleeing victims,” the creature presented. He could tell his client was beginning to like his invention more by the second.

“In short, it does everything, except the dishes. Don’t forget the name of this marvel: the Grolgoth!”

“Hmmm... hmmm…,” Razorbeard pondered.

“Decide quickly. I have other clients waiting.”

Razorbeard thought about it. “With this, I could destroy Rayman. Crush him… smash him… I’ll take it!”

“You won’t regret it,” the creature said as he packed up his things.

“Here’s your money. It’s all there. Count it if you like!” Razorbeard thanked his guest and a large treasure chest landed next to him.

“Oh, I trust you!” the creature said and gave Razorbeard a salute.


	31. The Pirate Ship

The first part of this level was simple yet complicated. It was sliding, but also jumping, turning, collecting lums, jumping from and not missing platforms, and shooting switches so that platforms would come down and Rayman could slide on them. The pirate ship was anything but fun, but this level was pretty fun, as far as slides go.

The second part of the level is trickier. Rayman had to defeat the most powerful robot soldier he had ever come across and ride a flying shell towards the end. The robot could jump very high and land on top of Rayman, squishing him into a pile of purple flat-thingy, when he’s not aware. And after three hits, Rayman’s golden fist disappears. Rayman had to rely on non-charged shots to defeat this guy. There was not enough time for him to charge his shots and throw them as the robot would land in one spot, blast fire from its guns, then jump up again, and Rayman had to move before it landed on top of him. It was a tough fight. Really tough. But Rayman managed to destroy it and then hit the switch that activates the production of flying shells.

Rayman sat on a flying shell after it stopped moving. It neighed and took off like a rocket inside the ship. Rayman flew around the brass pipes and above the lava to collect all the lums in the location, then he flew further into the ship. 

And boy, dodging all those obstacles while controlling the shell and trying not to crash into anything was one of the hardest puzzles Rayman had ever encountered in his adventure so far. One wrong move, one CRASH! and he has to start over from the very moment he flew deeper into the ship. It was FRUS-TRA-TING but he made it through anyway after countless trial and error. Why? Because heroes always win.

End of (the hardest) level (ever)!


	32. The Crow's Nest

“Come in, you useless grub!” Razorbeard shouted at his right-hand robot.

“R-Rayman has four masks and he’s on the ship……”

“You failed me again,” the admiral growled. “I warned you, didn’t I? Let’s see how well you swim in molten lava! Meanwhile, I’ll just handle this little problem myself.” Razorbeard turned to his men. “Prepare the Grolgoth! I know how to lure Rayman to me……”

From a large metal pole attached to the crow’s nest, we can see Goobox being tied to it by the feet and hanging upside down. His life hung by a little rope. Razorbeard got into the Grolgoth and aimed a gun at him. “Identify target!”

As he was about to shoot, Rayman appeared on the crow’s nest as well. “Leave my friend alone!” he yelled above the howling wind. 

Razorbeard shot the pole anyway and both Rayman and Globox went down. “Hahaha! Now you’re alone for all eternity!” he laughed at Rayman.

But Rayman climbed back up, and Globox had not completely fallen off the ship. “WHAT?!” Razorbeard stormed.

“Are you alright, my friend?” Rayman hollered at Globox from the top.

“I’ll be fine. Now go!” Globox said, still hanging from the rope.

Maybe someone will find Globox hanging there and rescue him before the rope snaps under his weight. Yes, Globox will be fine. Right now, Rayman’s got literally bigger things to worry about.

Razorbeard and The Grolgoth stood before Rayman. The captain fired a few bombs at Rayman. Rayman shot them back. They moved away from him but they did not hit the Grolgoth. Razorbeard’s giant machine had moved out of the way before his own bombs touched him. He was quick in his reflexes. But Rayman was quicker, and smarter. 

When the Grolgoth shot some more bombs at him, Rayman waited until they got really close to him before he shot them back. That way, Razorbeard inside the Grolgoth would think Rayman is going to get hit with the bombs so close so he wouldn’t bother to move his machine out of the way. The bombs hit the Grolgoth, and its life points decreased. YES!

Rayman let the bombs hit the Grolgoth back a few more times and he felt victorious. Razorbeard had Rayman right in the crossfire. He was about to push a button and let ‘im have it when the ground shook it. Huh? Rayman felt it, too. But what ground? He was standing on a crow’s nest on a pirate ship floating in the sky. What ground? 

The wiring and the wooden panels on top of the crow’s nest began to give way. Rayman hung on, but he and the Grolgoth end up falling down the crow nest, down towards some lava. Rayman screamed. And somewhere in the Fairy Glade, Ly opened her eyes. She had heard him, and she was coming to help.

“Don’t be afraid, Rayman…… I’m here!” She said as she gathered all the energy she needed to create a silver lum and catch Rayman before he hit the molten liquid.

“WHOOAH!” Rayman cried as the silver lum appeared from below him and caught him. It moved him to a platform in the lava nearby. On the platform was a shell. Rayman tapped it from behind, it looked back and recognised its rider. It started whinnying and neighing and doing a little joyful dance around Rayman and it scooped Rayman up onto its back with his head. Both were reading to take off and take down Razorbeard once and for all!

Just then Ly’s head appeared in front of Rayman. She had to share some news with him.

“Bravo, Rayman! You were sensational! Razorbeard is nearly beaten! Thanks to you, hope has come back into our hearts. The slaves on the ship have broken their chains and have escaped. On land, Polokus has eliminated all the pirates. Destroy Razorbeard and our victory will be complete! Good luck, Rayman!” And Ly’s head disappeared.

The Grolgoth, all this time, was suspending itself in between two poles above the lava. From inside the Grolgoth, Razorbeard aimed his gun. He once again had Rayman in his crossfire. He’s not going to let this limbless hero go this time.

Rayman and the flying shell took off. The goal was to collect a glowing ball of five shots and shoot at the Grolgoth's hands, making it slip and let go of the poles and drop into the lava. After the first drop, the Grolgoth got back up and shot some trailing missiles at Rayman. It was tricky and twisty, but Rayman managed to avoid getting hit by the missiles. He also managed to avoid the rising lava whenever Razorbeard tells him “Your lava bath is ready!”. Every time he ran out of shots, he would fly around in the ship until he saw another sparkling ball and fly into it to pick it up.

Remember the rotating chair at the Top of the World? Rayman felt just like that. Dizzy, but he was on a mission to be dizzy anyway. He kept flying round and round until he used up and collected enough shots and made the Grolgoth fall enough times in the lava and defeat it. Victory! The Grolgoth was destroyed. Razorbeard came out in an escape pod. He was not done yet.

“Rayman, I’ve saved one little surprise for you.” And he pushed a button. Lying there in the lava, a countdown began inside the Grolgoth. Before Rayman knew what was going on, the Grolgoth AND the entire pirate ship exploded. Globox had been rescued from the outside, but Rayman was still inside.

A sombre funeral was held for Rayman. The people — Ly, Murfy, Globox and his family, the Teensies, Clark, the shells Rayman rode on, Carmen, and even Polokus himself — gathered around a totem. On top of the totem was one of Rayman’s shoes. Rayman’s dead. Who will protect them now?

Suddenly, the shoe began to move. Baby Globox stepped towards it. Some balls of light gathered around the shoe and suddenly dashed off in another direction. Everyone looked in that direction. From somewhere deep inside the forest, Rayman emerged walking on a crutch. Globox’s children dashed towards him and cuddled him. Rayman’s shoe attached itself back onto his body.

Polokus and the people cheered. Their hero was alive! And he had survived that explosion in the sky. Everyone was overjoyed. They kept calling out Rayman’s name. Rayman was overjoyed himself, too. He gave the Baby Globoxes a great, big HUG.

Fireworks shot into the sky. The people of the planet celebrated and thanked Rayman. 

“Rayman, we honour you this evening. Without your courage, the enemy would still be here. Once again, the world has found harmony. The heart of the world is back together. Now rest, Rayman. You may have to fight again. Who knows what tomorrow may bring……”


	33. The End of a Good Game

That boss fight was good. VERY good. Decently challenging but not too difficult that’ll make you want to rip your hair out. VERY good. Really. It kicked ARSE.

Rosalynn saw her three-letter player name, RWW (Rosalynn Wrights-Winstor), appear in the credits. She was named “Best Player” of the game. Rosalynn jumped for joy. She knew she was the ONLY one playing this game that she bought from a second-hand bookstore. But maybe there were many other players before her but none of them played it as well as she did. And their files were deleted before the game was sold. She kept jumping until her boyfriend, who was taking a nap, woke up to ask her what she was doing.

“I finished the game, and I’m the best player! The game said so!” she cried. She went and hug the messy-haired cutie.

“Aww, that’s great.” He yawned. “Which game? Rayman 2?”

“I’m going to go back to the bookstore and see if I can find the rest of the games in the Rayman series.”

Nicholas Maurice Winstor rubbed her hair. “That could take ages. It’s a pretty big store with all kinds of things. Want me to come along? You could use a little help……”

Rosalynn looked up at her bosom boo. “You silly little lad. Don’t you know you’re welcome to follow me wherever I go?”


End file.
